This invention concerns the discovery that a selected group of 4a-aryl-cis-decahydroisoquinolines are useful as analgesics, many with little or no addictive properties.
Boekelheide and Schilling, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 72, 712 (1950), disclosed the compound N-methyl-4a-phenyl-cis decahydroisoquinoline, (naming it "N-methyl-10-phenyldecahydroisoquinoline") and indicated that it had low analgesic activity.
The present invention results from efforts to develop new compounds with high analgesic potency and low abuse liability.